Dwight Daly, 19, throws a big stale grab 270 from the quarter pipe to the bank at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013. Randy Edwards/cat5

As the sun’s harsh rays begin to mellow, more than three dozen people — guys, mostly, in their teens, 20s and early 30s — have gathered downtown on a $450,000 patch of concrete.

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza has only been officially open for 24 hours, but it has already claimed at least one skateboard deck and several egos. Skateboarders, roller bladers and BMX riders gather at the edges of the circular park, talking amongst themselves while a guy in dark jeans and a cut-up T-shirt tries over and over again to land this trick where he launches down a set of steps and flips his board in mid-air. Each attempt so far has resulted in a tumble to the ground, the last of which left a perfect imprint of his face, hands and torso, an ephemeral silhouette in sweat left behind on the hot concrete.

If you pull off a solid trick — or take a massive spill — expect some shouts of encouragement from the peanut gallery.

“Everyone’s super chill and no one’s being a jerk, which is very surprising,” said Isaac Parks, a 19-year-old from Humble who drove in just to roller blade at the new park. There are plenty of skate parks out in Houston, sure, but who can resist some new territory to skate?

The construction fence around the skate park came down Aug. 5 and since then, the park has been bustling with skaters who have spent years — if not decades — searching for a place to skate in Beaumont.

“It’s amazing compared to what we had to skate before,” said James Jenkins, a 23-year-old Beaumont resident who has been skateboarding for nine years. “You get to skate with different people because people come out who you never would have seen skating before.”

Local comedian Jack Neil throws a 360 on the pyramid at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Local comedian Jack Neil throws a 360 on the pyramid at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

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Isaac Parks, 19, traveled down from Humble to rollerblade at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013. While there Parks landed this christ makio grind down the handrail.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

Isaac Parks, 19, traveled down from Humble to rollerblade at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013. While there Parks landed this christ makio grind down the handrail.
Photo ... more

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

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Locals and visitors enjoy the first official day at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Locals and visitors enjoy the first official day at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

Image 13 of 35

Simon Gonzales cross grabs an air out of the quarter-pipe on his rollerblades at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Simon Gonzales cross grabs an air out of the quarter-pipe on his rollerblades at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

Image 14 of 35

Miles Watson, 19, airs out of the quarter-pipe on his skateboard at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Miles Watson, 19, airs out of the quarter-pipe on his skateboard at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Photo: Beaumont Enterprise

Image 15 of 35

Miles Watson, 19, board-slides the handrail on his skateboard at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Miles Watson, 19, board-slides the handrail on his skateboard at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Bryan Seymour, center, shows a clip of Nathan Hammond, left, that he had just filmed to his friends at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

Bryan Seymour, center, shows a clip of Nathan Hammond, left, that he had just filmed to his friends at the Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza on Tuesday, August 6, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

Image 29 of 35

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

Image 30 of 35

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

Image 31 of 35

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

Image 32 of 35

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

Image 33 of 35

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

Image 34 of 35

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo taken July 24, 2013.
Photo taken:
Randy Edwards/The Enterprise less

The Beautiful Mountain Skate Plaza will hold its grand opening the Saturday of August 17, 2013. As of now the project is nearly finished, and waiting on the release of the area from the contractors. Photo ... more

That is a beautiful thing about Beautiful Mountain — the diversity. Dreadlocked gutter punk types, clean-cut young professionals, black, white, Hispanic, guys (mostly), girls (a few), people who drove in from Houston and Louisiana, all of them cheering each other on through impressive feats and spills alike. Beaumont’s social scene is often quite segregated but this tidy, landscaped portion of downtown Beaumont is a beautiful display of what happens when you give young, bored people a place to go. They hang out in the fresh air, exercise, learn a few new tricks and pick each other up when they fall.

The vibe here is tangibly friendly and upbeat. At the Event Centre next door, families take a sunset stroll around the lake while runners make loops around downtown. This cleaned up little patch of downtown is well lit, landscaped, and promising — yet another stepping stone in the cultural sea change Beaumont has been experiencing over the last couple years.

“It’s awesome,” said Jack Neil, a local stand-up comic who’s been roller blading for 12 years. “It’s what we’ve been asking for for a while, and they delivered.”

This weekend, a day-long mini-festival will celebrate Beautiful Mountain with vendors, a speech from Mayor Becky Ames, live music from We Were Wolves, Purple and The Ramblin Boys and a few of the food trucks that have helped Beaumont’s street food scene grow exponentially over the last year. At Tequila Rok’s after-party, more of the same: local music, ice cold adult beverages and a celebration of yet another step in the revitalization of downtown.

Even if you don’t skate, the park is worth checking out, especially as it fills up at dusk. There’s plenty of parking and safe lighting thanks to the Event Centre next door. Just bring ample water for yourself and take your trash with you when you go. Let us not trash this lovely gift which we have been given.

If this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for to give skating a try, don’t feel intimidated — even the most seasoned skaters are friendly and willing to show you what they know.

“Just do what we all did,” Neil said. “Just pick up the board, pick up skates, pick up a bike and just do it.”